Jeanette Orrey MBE
Jeanette worked in school catering for 20+ years. She co-founded Food for Life, was awarded an MBE in 2011 for her services to school food, was a member of the School Food Plan Expert Panel.
Jeanette’s Vegetable Rosti
Jeanette Orrey MBE
Effort:
Complexity:
Cost:
Serves: 4
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Ingredients:
375g (12oz) courgettes, washed
375g (12oz) carrots, peeled
125g (4oz) parsnip, peeled
225g (8oz) old potatoes, peeled
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp olive oil
Veg Portions / Serving: 1
Rosti is comforting, crisp and fluffy. But since potatoes (while great for you) don’t count as part of your 5-a-day, this recipe packs a punch by swapping some of it out for fresh veggies.
Method:
Grate the courgette onto a paper towel and squeeze out any excess water.
Put into a mixing bowl.
Grate and drain the carrot, parsnip and potato the same way.
Combine them all in the mixing bowl.
Add the beaten egg and flour, and mix well.
Heat the oil over a medium heat in a large frying pan.
Divide the mixture into 8 pieces of about a tablespoon each.
Put them in the pan in batches that will fit your pan, and flatten down with a fish slice.
Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown.
These freeze well after cooking, defrost and reheat in a low oven before serving.
Engaging Kids
Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.
Kids in the kitchen
Older kids can grate the veg, and get younger children to squeeze out the excess moisture from the veg and mix everything, then shape into patties.
Activities
While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.
Sensory
Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.
Serving
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.
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